Taylor Swift is one of the most talked-about women in the world, but only recently has the singer voiced her political standpoint, opening up about her previous silence this week in an interview with the Guardian.
‘I can’t believe we’re here,’ Taylor reflected on the current situation, going on to explain: ‘It’s really shocking and awful. And I just wanna do everything I can for 2020. I wanna figure out exactly how I can help, what are the most effective ways to help. Cause this is just…This is not it.’
Taking to the stage at the VMAs, the 29-year-old again made her thoughts known, using her time to publicly call out Donald Trump for not responding to her petition to pass the Equality Act.
‘I want to thank everyone who’s signed that petition because it now has half a million signatures, which is five times the amount that it would need to warrant a response from the White House,’ she announced before making a point of looking at an imaginary watch.
President Donald Trump didn’t seem too pleased with Taylor’s comments, with the White House publicly responding.
‘The Trump administration absolutely opposes discrimination of any kind and supports the equal treatment of all,’ read the statement from White House spokesperson Judd Deere. ‘However, the House-passed bill in its current form is filled with poison pills that threaten to undermine parental and conscience rights.’
Hmmm.
But why has it taken Taylor so long to speak up?
‘I come from country music,’ the 29-year-old explained in her Guardian interview. ‘The number one thing they absolutely drill into you as a country artist, and you can ask any other country artist this, is ‘Don’t be like the Dixie Chicks!”’
She continued: ‘I watched country music snuff that candle out, the most amazing group we had, just because they talked about politics. And they were getting death threats. They were made such an example that basically every country artist that came after that, every label tells you, “Just do not get involved, no matter what.”
‘I hate to admit this, but I felt that I wasn’t educated enough on it. Because I hadn’t actively tried to learn about politics in a way that I felt was necessary for me, making statements that go out to hundreds of millions of people.’
Taylor has pledged to be more vocal about politics in future.
